Invading Cuba

Cuba was officially regarded as a security threat to the US until 1998, and when the Pentagon decided that maybe the US could survive a Cuban assault, the Clinton administration insisted that the threat must be defined as “negligible,” but still real.

Back 40 years ago when Kennedy tried to get Latin American governments to join the US in declaring Cuba a security threat to the hemisphere, the Mexican Ambassador refused, saying that if he told Mexicans that Cuba was a threat to their security they’d all die laughing. Fortunately we are much more cowardly here. So who knows, maybe somewhere hidden in a cave they are doing something that could harm us.

None of this, of course, has anything at all to do with the efforts to strangle Cuba, continuing with the shameful refusal here to permit payment for Cuban technology and inventions. The Cuban health system is a particular thorn in Washington’s side, its biotech industry as well. The exception in this case is interesting, however, including the justification.

Kennedy didn’t make a clear promise not to invade Cuba again, and immediately reinstituted the terrorist war against Cuba when the missile crisis was over, continuing until his assassination. The charge about bioweapons was made by the Bush administration at a time when they were riding high, before the Iraq debacle, and there were serious possibilities that they might go on a rampage, though an attack on Cuba is unlikely unless it erodes sufficiently within so that there will be no meaningful defense against an invasion. Like Iraq. Even the administration hawks understand that it doesn’t make much sense to attack anyone who can defend themselves.